Heartless Virus
by evenstar1791
Summary: Written w/NT:A month after returning to Destiny Islands, the gang are called into action again. But with the enemy being something that attacks the body itself and not just the heart, can they bring peace to the worlds again? Partial AU and yaoi action
1. Back in Action

**1- Back into Action**

Warning! This is AU but still in the same Kingdom Hearts verse as the games! It's only AU because of concepts Nakira and I added for this.

%%%

Sora sighed as he lounged on the beach. It had been a whole month since he and Riku had gotten back from their final battle against Xemnas and he was completely bored. Destiny Islands just seemed even more boring since he knew what else was out there. He heard Kairi's soft footfalls on the sand and heard the chain jingling around her wrist where she kept the keychain sealing away her weapon. Here she came to mess with him about being lazy. Just like she did before.

"What are you doing, Lazybones?" She asked lightly, bending over him with her hands on her hips the way she always used to. He sighed.

"Watching the water…" He glanced over, hearing Riku walking heavily on the sand.

"Are you two at it again?" He laughed, holding a log over his shoulder. "Be glad we haven't heard anything from the King in the past month since he and the others went back to the Castle." Sora lifted an eyebrow.

"What are you doing with that log?"

"Fixing the bridge in the Cove. There's nothing better to do so I figured why not." He said with a grin. Kairi nodded approvingly.

"Wow…at least Riku _does_ something when he's bored!" Sora scoffed and pointed at the water.

"Hey! I _am_ doing something! You never know what could wash up from the ocean!" He shouted in his defense. He looked out at the ocean as he pointed. A girl washed onto the beach as soon as he looked. She seemed unconscious, long brown hair matted around her body to the point it was hard to tell whether or not she was clothed. Riku dropped his log and ran to pull the girl away from the water.

"Come help!" Sora stood and ran to help him. They dragged her onto the sand and Kairi walked over to join them.

"We should get her out of the sand, not knowing if she's injured or not." Sora nodded once.

"The only places without sand besides…who's taking her on a boat?"

"I will." Riku said, picking her up. Sora frowned a little, seeing that she was barely breathing and Riku didn't even seem to have made an effort to pick her up. She was about the same size as Sora, so he figured Riku would at least have had to made a _bit_ of an effort. They headed for the boats and Sora noticed that there was blood where the girl had been on the sand.

"Oh my…" Kairi gasped, seeing the blood on Riku's arms when he got the girl in his boat. "Let's go, Sora." She hurried to get in her boat and Sora followed suit.

"Okay, I'm coming!" He untied his boat from the wharf. "We should take her to the hospital."

"I don't think that's a good idea…" Riku said quietly. There was something strange in his expression. "We'll just go to my place."

XX

Riku rowed quickly to the main island and docked quickly. He lifted the girl out of the boat and ran as fast as he could to his house, not even bothering to readjust her when he got there and opting to open the door with magic. He ran up to his room and lay her on her stomach on the bed. He moved her hair from her back as he used magic to get his first aid stuff into the room.

It was pretty obvious that she was naked and the horrible cuts covering her back along with the sand and blood on her skin had him getting ready to use magic to get water and rags. He heard the door open and sensed Sora and Kairi hurrying into the house. He opted to get the rags and water physically and ran out of the room, brushing past Kairi as she ran up the stairs.

He got a bowl of water and hurried back to his room. Sora and Kairi were both blocking his path.

"Dang…" Sora gasped seeing the girl's wounds. Riku pushed between them and started treating her wounds, cleaning them gently. She stirred, crying out in pain as he touched the wounds and the sand from the beach grated along the open cuts.

"Calm down, I'm sorry if I hurt you." He said calmly, rinsing out his rag and starting again. She tried to lift herself up. "Don't do that. Your wounds aren't healed yet." Her arms wobbled and she collapsed back onto the bed, gasping in pain. "Just calm down." He sighed, covering her wounds with gauze. "Will you two leave the room?" He glanced over his shoulder at Kairi and Sora.

"Riku, let me finish fixing her up. I don't think it'll help her state of mind to have a guy…" Sora left without a word while Kairi protested. The girl turned to look at Kairi and blinked. Her almost radioactive blue eyes suddenly glared daggers at the red-haired girl. "On second thought…I'll wait downstairs…" Kairi fled the room.

"Kairi's a nice girl; you didn't need to do that." He sighed and the girl blinked at him. She opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came from her mouth. "Just stay still until I get your wounds covered." He said soothingly, still laying gauze gently over her wounds. She finally calmed down, but cried out quietly every time he accidentally touched an actual cut. He finished and helped her roll over so he could inspect her front for injuries.

She gasped in pain as she put her weight on her back and started whimpering quietly. He grimaced at the long, filthy cut marring her stomach. It was starting to scab over and he got the feeling that once he finished cleaning it, it wouldn't be but a few minutes before she'd be fully healed. So he carefully cleaned it and put a bandage over it. "All set…"

She tried to sit up, but shouted in pain. "Wait a second. You need to take it easy until your wounds heal."

"I-I can't…! M-My sister…" She gasped in pain and fell back onto her back, screaming as she slammed against her wounds. It didn't help that he preferred a harder mattress.

"Calm down…please…you'll only hurt yourself." He sighed, touching her shoulder lightly.

"B-But…"

"Just calm down. I can tell you're a fairy, and since I can't use healing magic, you'll have to wait a while before your magic heals your wounds." She blinked in surprise and nodded.

XX

Sora waited anxiously with Kairi for Riku to come down, grimacing every time the girl's pained cries made it to their ears. It was a couple of hours before Riku finally came downstairs and joined them in the living room.

"She's asleep now…"

"Did she say anything?" Sora asked, hoping that she'd managed speech between gasping and screaming in pain.

"Not really…" Riku sighed, sitting down heavily on his couch.

"How bad was she wounded?" Kairi asked, worried. Heck, Sora was worried too. The girl had just washed up onto the beach covered in blood.

"We could hear her all the way down here…"

"Just the cuts on her back and a gash on her stomach…"

"That's still pretty bad…" Sora grimaced, thinking of how much pain she must be in.

"We need to find out who she is and where she came from." Kairi changed the subject.

"That'll have to wait until she wakes up. And until her wounds are healed." Sora nodded in agreement.

"He's right. If she panics or anything, she could open her wounds up again."

"Sora! What if something happened on her home world that could be a massive problem that needs to be solved before she's healed? We have to look at the possibilities here." Kairi argued.

"You all aren't arguing about me, I hope." The girl stepped off the stairs, wearing a short white gown.

"Unfortunately, we were." Riku sighed, leaning back on the couch. "Are you sure you're okay to be up and around? Have your wounds already healed?"

"Yes, thank you." She smiled slightly. "I didn't catch your names." Okay…was there something that happened between Riku and that girl upstairs…?

"I'm Sora." He said, hoping that Riku would actually enlighten them for once.

"Kairi."

"Riku…if you're healed then…" He started and she sat down in a chair.

"You want to know who I am and where I'm from. My name is Eli. I'm from…Pixie Hollow." She sighed. "I really shouldn't tell you about this. But I'm a fairy that protects various worlds. My twin sister and I were most recently taking care of the Deep Jungle."

"Strange…" Riku muttered.

"How is that strange?" Kairi asked, confused. Heck, Sora was confused too. The only fairy he knew was Tinker Bell, and he _knew_ that Peter Pan was the only person who could understand a word the fairy said.

"Do you know how fairies are born?"

"No…" Eli sighed tiredly.

"When a baby laughs for the first time, that laugh turns into a fairy that arrives in Pixie Hollow. Once in a hundred years or so, a laugh will turn into two fairies." She paused. "My sister Keri and I are Guardian Talents. We went to guard the forest in the Deep Jungle when—" She cut herself off and Sora felt his eyes go wide. He stood.

"Did something happen to Tarzan and the others?" He stood, ready to find some way off the islands to help them.

"Calm down, Sora." Riku sighed.

"Not that I'm aware of…my sister and I went to Radiant Garden when she…fairies _don't_ get sick. She was extremely ill." Eli said, looking extremely worried.

"How did you get those wounds?" Kairi asked.

"We went to Merlin. The burrow exploded…"

"Oh…my…" Sora was officially starting to panic.

"Sora, calm down." Both Kairi and Riku said tiredly.

"I'm sorry…I don't know if anyone else was hurt. But I have to get back there. Keri could be seriously hurt or worse! I have to…"

"Calm down, Eli." Riku sighed. "Your wounds…"

"Are already healed." She sighed. "I'm serious about leaving to go back to Radiant Garden though. I _need_ to find out if everyone's okay."

"Well, we don't have a ship or anything to get there." Kairi said quietly.

"What about King Mickey? You guys know him, right? Do you have a way to contact him?" Eli tried.

"Nope." Kairi answered immediately.

"Message in a bottle, but that could take forever to get to him." Sora shrugged.

"Gah! Humans are so useless!" She shouted in frustration. "Is this world totally cut off or something!"

"Yes." They all answered.

"Hopeless!" She headed for the door. "Fine. I'll use my own method to find a way there." She slammed out of the house.

"We should help her. Something serious could have happened at Radiant Garden…" Riku sighed, starting after her.

"Right." Sora agreed.

"I'm going with you guys." Kairi said lightly.

"Kai…" She scowled.

"Don't! I can defend myself. And it's better than just sitting here worrying about you and Riku."

"Kairi's right, you know. I'll be right back." Riku went upstairs.

"Okay then…" Sora frowned. Kairi frowned as well.

"You think he might have some way of getting off the islands?"

"How could he…?" He watched the stairs for Riku to come back.

XX

Riku went to his room and dug through his drawers, searching for something. He really hated having to keep some secrets from them, but there were just some rules he couldn't break.

"Are you keeping secrets from your friends?" Eli asked lightly, appearing in the doorway. She must have reentered the house when he went upstairs.

"Some things I have to keep from them."

"Like?" She looked him over. "You're not originally from this world, are you?"

"Neither is Kairi. She just doesn't remember her home world." He pulled a small sphere from a drawer and grabbed his potion bag out of the same drawer. "Found it."

"What is it?"

"A gift from…an old friend of mine. I ran into her before we came back to this world. It's better than using a portal of darkness to get to Disney Castle to get a ship." He tied the potion bag to his belt and grabbed a second bag from the top of the unit—it had the keychains for his weapon inside. "Unless your method was simpler than just using a Gummi Ship?" She shrugged.

"Not really." She paused. "Portal of darkness? Are you a Black Mage…?" He nodded once and started to leave the room.

"A High Mage, actually." He headed back downstairs.

"What's up?" Sora asked the moment he got down there. He pulled the sphere out of his pocket and tossed it into the air.

"You guys go get ready to head out and meet me and Eli at the docks in an hour."

"Uh…how are we leaving?" Sora asked stupidly. The look on his face made Riku smirk.

"You'll see."

"You can't just leave us in the dark, Riku!" Sora shouted, standing up. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair as he pocketed the sphere again.

"You'll find out at the docks. It's going to take the whole trip to Radiant Garden to explain it anyways." Kairi stood and grabbed Sora's arm.

"Let's go. We'll see you in an hour, Riku." She dragged the keybearer out of the house and Riku leaned against the wall. He'd told them an hour because that's how long it would take him to make sure the ship was actually working properly. He hadn't used it even once since Ash gave it to him.

"Well, may as well get going." He sighed and left the house, heading for the docks.

%%%

So that's it for now…! Because this story was written—like Perfect Shift—in role play format, I'm having to do some major editing and such on this so updates may be a bit slow in coming…particularly when I catch up with how far we've written already.


	2. Secrets Kept

**2- Secrets Kept**

This is pretty much where the 'AU' comes in.

%%%

Riku waited patiently for Sora and Kairi. It had been almost exactly an hour and he'd just finished double checking the ship and calling Mickey to get some things taken care of. They got there on time and Riku noticed that Sora was—not surprisingly—looking increasingly aggravated. He decided quickly that he didn't like that look being on Sora's normally cheerful and stupid face.

"That's…" Kairi started in surprise. Riku waited for the blowup from Sora.

"Where'd you get a Gummi Ship?" He demanded.

"An old friend. Eli's already inside. Let's get going." He entered the ship and headed for the cockpit. He heard the others following.

"What friend? Riku, what the hell haven't you told us?" He looked back to see Kairi put a hand on Sora's shoulder.

"Sora…" She sighed. Riku saw the communicator flashing and pushed the answer switch.

"Long time no talk, Riku!" Chip's voice sounded over the speakers.

"Same to you, Chip. Were you and Dale able to get hold of Ash for me?" He answered lightly, sitting down behind the controls and absently adjusting the knobs and switches.

"Of course they were! What do you think I am, Ri-chan? A hermit?" His sister's voice growled as she came into view on the screen. He laughed a little.

"You _are_ referred to as a hermit, Ash. And I wasn't sure if Mickey would have been able to contact you."

"Of course he was able to. He wasn't a student of an idiot, you know." She said haughtily and he smirked.

"And what does that make you, Teach?" She frowned deeply, her grass green eyes glinting dangerously. That was the only thing they had in common as far as appearance went. He took more after their mother with the silver hair and build—considering Ash had pitch black hair and a slight build that made her appear weaker than she actually was.

"How many times to I have to ask you nicely not to call me that, Ri-chan?" His smirk turned into a wide grin.

"Would you rather I called you 'Sis' then?" She positively fumed at that. It was so easy to get her ticked off. Sometimes too easy.

"RI-CHAN!" He laughed and started the engine, leaving the islands.

"I'm joking, Ash. I had something I wanted to ask you about." She lifted an eyebrow and shrugged.

"What then? If it's about the Radiant Garden incident, I already know about it. Merlin contacted me as soon as the Burrow was attacked. Don't worry, Yuf was the only one even slightly injured besides the fairy that disappeared. Yuf had been on her way out to get Squall and the others to talk about the two fairies with Merlin."

"What happened to the other fairy?" He set the autopilot and sat back, arms folded across his chest.

"She's in the infirmary at the castle." Ash sighed. "Listen, Little Brother. I don't want you doing anything stupid or reckless this time around. You remember what happened last time."

"You kicked my ass." He sighed. "Honestly…I'm not planning on splitting up from the others so you don't have to worry. And it's not fair that you get to refer to me as 'little brother' when I can't even call you 'sis'." Sora leaned towards him from his seat.

"I didn't know you had a sister…" He whispered.

"Eh? Oh! I didn't even notice you had others in the ship. Well? How do you like it? I designed it myself. Everything's completely stealth designed and high grade."

"It's great, Ash. Was the Burrow the only place in Radian Garden that was damaged?"

"Yea. You're all business, Ri-chan." She sighed. He narrowed his eyes at her. She was being unusually distracted—something must have happened between her and Squall, she was only ever like that when they'd had an argument or gotten back together. "Though I got word from Queen Clarion that the Home Tree was hit by some sort of small bomb. Some of the fairies living in the upper levels were injured and their homes destroyed."

"What?" Eli gasped.

"When did this happen?" Riku asked at the same time, sitting forward in his seat and starting to worry.

"Uh…what world did this happen on?" Sora asked nervously.

"Pixie Hollow is in Neverland. I was about to go and talk to Peter to make sure the boys are okay. Before Mickey got hold of me saying you wanted to chat, Ri-chan."

"Sorry about that. Maybe I should go talk to Queen Clarion and make sure everyone's okay. A lot of the Art Talents live in the upper levels of the Home Tree…" He said almost to himself, already planning to make a quick trip there when he got through talking with Squall and Merlin.

"I was going to slip into Pixie Hollow to do just that." Ash said lightly.

"Then you'll let me know? You know that I have a lot of friends among the Art Talent Sparrow Men…"

"Of course." She laughed. "And I'll expect an update from you just as soon as you finish chatting with Squall." Something definitely happened between her and Squall. She normally would have just went to talk to him in person.

"Right…fair's fair, I guess." He sighed, deciding not to ask about it.

"Ri-chan, you're such a spoil sport." She smirked. "I'll let you go so you can fill your friends in." The connection cut off and he flipped the switch on the comm. He sighed again, leaning back in his seat.

"Where to start…?"

"How about the beginning?" Sora asked crossly.

"Yea, Riku. It looks like there's a lot we don't know about you suddenly…" Kairi sighed.

"Okay then. You guys know how I've always lived alone, right?"

"Well yea, that's why you've always spent so much time on the other island exploring and stuff, right?"

"That's not exactly true. Ash taught me how to open a portal through the darkness when I started walking. Before she left me on the island so she could take care of things only a 'keybearer' can do. Like protecting worlds from the heartless and all that…"

"There's _another_ Keyblade?" Riku shook his head a little at that.

"No. Ash carries a bow staff. It's shaped like a really long key, but doesn't have most of the powers the Keyblade has." He sighed. "But that's beside the point. I always spent so much time on the other island because I was actually using the cover of the forest to keep from getting caught opening a portal. I used to go to all sorts of other worlds." He smirked, glancing at Sora. "Did you ever notice, Sora, anything strange in your friends in other worlds if you mentioned my name?" He nodded a little.

"Yea…but I just thought it was because they'd never heard of you…"

"Aladdin and I used to swipe bread and fruit from the vendors in the bazaar and joke about what we'd do if either of us ever ended up in a palace living like princes. Chip and I'd play hide and seek in the castle—Belle joined in after she came to the castle. Shang and I would spar and practice strategies in mock battles. Squall and Tifa taught me how to fight and come out practically uninjured." He paused, gauging their reactions.

"So…you _know_ everyone?" He nodded, resisting laughter at the stupid look on Sora's face.

"I could go on and list almost every world you've been to, Sora. Even some worlds you haven't been to. Aurora's husband Phillip? He always told me about the princess he kept dreaming about. And the seven dwarves that Snow White is friends with? They showed me how to find synthesis items in plain sight." Kairi blinked in surprise.

"How long…?"

"Seriously…and how didn't either of us notice!"

"You're always being lazy and Kai's only concerned with making sure you don't slack off?" He laughed aloud at their reactions. "And as I said, Ash taught me when I started walking and talking…so since I was two. I stopped going to other worlds when the door started showing the keyhole. You know the door in the Secret Place. That's the keyhole."

"I never noticed…"

"Obviously. But I realized that my using magic was drawing in the heartless and I stopped. Obviously it was too late because it wasn't very long before the heartless actually showed up and all of that stuff last year started. So it was kind of my fault you two got involved in that…" Sora blinked in surprise.

"You mean to say…if you…"

"If I hadn't been careless with using magic, the heartless probably wouldn't have shown up and nothing would have changed." Sora shrugged.

"I think we're better off because of that though, right?"

"True. We've all gotten a lot more mature since dealing with Maleficent and the Organization." Kairi agreed. "Especially you two." Riku almost said something in response, but the comm flashed and a name came up on the screen declaring it to be Aeris. He flipped the switch.

"We're on the way to Radiant Garden, Aeris. Is Yuf okay?"

"Upset because she won't be able to hold her big shuriken for a while." She laughed. Riku sighed in relief at that. "More importantly, I wanted to double check for Leon who all's with you, Ri."

"Just Sora and Kairi." He paused, remembering the silent fairy in the ship. "And Eli."

"Okay. I'll tell Leon."

"Will you also tell Cid to meet us at the marketplace? When Ash designed this ship, she didn't add in a warp drive."

"I'll ask him if he's got any Warp Drives on hand first, Ri." She sighed. "Merlin also just got back and we're waiting on you guys to get here before we talk about what's going on. Have you talked to the lunatic yet?"

"Just as we were leaving the islands. And don't let my sister hear you calling her that, Aeris."

"She doesn't care." She shrugged. "How close are you guys?" He checked the map.

"Give us…I think ten minutes." He smirked. "It would have been faster if my crazy sister had remembered that I hate slow trips." Aeris rolled her eyes.

"Okay the. We're in the study whenever you get here."

"Okay." She cut off the connection and the screen went black as Riku flipped the switch closed. He ran a hand through his hair tiredly. "I have a bad feeling about this…"

XX

Sora spotted Cid waiting for them as Riku docked the ship and they all got out.

"I guess since you're here, you've got a Warp Drive on hand?" Riku asked lightly. Cid frowned deeply, but didn't seem too aggravated by Riku's tone.

"Keep pushin' yer luck, Kid. I'll set ya up just as soon as our meeting's over." Kairi cleared her throat a little behind Sora and he blinked.

"Oh! You haven't met Cid yet, have you Kai?"

"Nope."

"Actually, it was a long time ago, but you have." Riku sighed, shoving his hands in his pockets and starting off. "I'm going ahead. And I'm gonna smack Squall over the head for letting Yuf get hurt." He headed across the market, clearly familiar with the route. It kind of freaked Sora out a bit. Cid rolled his eyes.

"Ya probably don't remember me is all, Kairi. It's been what? Ten or so years since ya got kicked onto the islands?" She nodded slowly.

"So is this…the world I'm from?" Cid nodded.

"Yea. Let's catch up with Ri before he starts a fight with Leon." Sora started after Riku.

"Why would he do that?" Kairi followed him, pulling Eli along behind her silently. Cid followed and fell into step beside Sora.

"Cuz Ri and Ash refuse to call him Leon. They're always callin' him 'Squall'. That, and it's kinda a normal thing for them to fight the moment they see each other." He shrugged.

"So…how long have you guys known Riku?" Kairi asked.

"Since he was a tyke. Ash was friends with Ansem. So we saw the two of them a lot."

"Do you know what world he's from originally then?" Sora asked, trying to sound casual even though he was desperately curious. Cid only shrugged.

"Not a clue. We all think either Twilight Town or Memory, but there's no way to say for sure." Kairi nodded a little.

"I wonder if Riku knows…"

"Probably not. He was two when Ash dropped him off with Ansem for a while before carting him off to yawl's islands." Well there went that method of discovery.

"Oh!" Kairi looked at Eli. "What are Sparrow Men?" Sora looked at her for the answer as well.

"Male fairies."

"And 'Art Talents'?"

"Sora…" Kairi started.

"It's fine." Eli smiled a little. "Every fairy has a talent. My sister and I are 'Guardian Talents'. The only two of our kind. There's a fairy named Priscilla who's the only one of her talent too. If you can think of it, there's probably at least one fairy with that as a talent. Have you heard of a fairy named Tinker Bell?" Sora grinned.

"Yea! She really helped me and Donald and Goofy out before."

"I met her too." Kairi laughed.

"She's a Pots and Pans Talent. She tinkers with metal stuff. And she's the best of her talent. Though I think she's still spending more time with Peter Pan than in Pixie Hollow."

"Are you guys just gonna sit around chatting or you gonna actually head to the study?" Yuffie laughed in front of them. Sora immediately noticed that her throwing arm was in a sling.

"Hey Yuffie!" He waved. "Did you see Riku pass by?"

"Yep. He just went to bug Leon. And he seemed pretty peeved…did he find out about Leon and Ash's most recent fight?" Sora paused.

"As far as we know…well, I can't really say." He sighed. It was kind of annoying that Riku had kept all of that from them—and even if he hadn't told Kairi, Sora figured Riku trusted him enough to tell him all that stuff. He probably really seemed like an idiot to everyone he'd met that already knew Riku when he was looking for him.

"Oh…he never told you guys about his travels?"

"Until today, no." He answered with a frown. Yuffie paused.

"Hm…this is gonna be a bit awkward then…" She laughed a little. "Let's go!" And they all headed for the castle study.

%%%

So things are getting interesting. Players of the game, can you tell what I meant by the 'AU' bit? Pixie Hollow is drawn from the Disney Fairies series, same with the Talents. There's gonna be an explanation of the 'Mage' thing Riku and Eli mentioned last chapter in story pretty soon…but if you can't wait, ask me in a PM and I'll give you a spoiler.


	3. Worries

**3- Worries Upon Worries**

Okay, so here's chapter three. Fortunately, this story mostly alternates between Sora and Riku for point of view, so it's not as difficult to fix this one up as it is for the other stories Nakira and I have been writing together. I'm going to recommend a story real quick. 'Taking Sora' by ParadiseAvenger. It's in my favorites.

%%%

Riku smirked a little. Squall was growling at him, completely pissed off.

"Can you at least stop calling me that?"

"Why should I, Squall? That's your name, after all." He sighed, folding his arms. "Stop whining about what I choose to call you and give me details on what happened! You have a way to contact me, so I think it's pretty sad that I heard about what happened from a total stranger!"

"You aren't getting any details until you tell me how much you told Sora." Okay, Squall was starting to get on his nerves a little.

"I told him what I had to in order to get the idiot to understand _my_ situation…which was the basics." He said simply.

"And your situation his?" He frowned and grabbed Squall by the jacket, pinning him to the wall powerfully.

"My situation…" He growled, clenching his teeth angrily and knowing that his eyes were flashing dangerously with his pent up magic. "Is that I'm concerned for the well-being of my friends and I'll do what I have to—as always—to help them. _D__on't_ get sarcastic with me when I'm already in a bad mood." He loosened his grip a little, reigning in his anger with some difficulty.

"Scary." Squall pushed him back the moment his hold loosened. "Okay. I get it. I just wanted to clarify."

"Honestly you two…" Yuffie sighed behind them and Riku got the feeling she was shaking her head. "At it again?" Squall shook his jacket a little, straightening up.

"Just finished. Hey Sora, Kairi…we were just talking about you guys."

"We weren't." Riku muttered, sitting down. He was still fuming. "Talk Squall. Or I'll sic some Heartless on you."

"How scary." Squall rolled his eyes and sat down as well. "If it was _Ash_ making that threat, I'd be concerned."

"You wanna see me pissed off, Squall?" He growled, joking now. He wasn't extremely angry anymore and their argument had just turned into banter.

"Still not worrying me. You guys haven't met his sister in person, have you? She's the most frightening Black Mage in any of the worlds. I'd bet even Maleficent was afraid of her." Riku scoffed.

"That's doubtful." Maleficent was a High Mage before she turned evil, but even Riku had been technically a higher rank than she was. And he knew that Maleficent wasn't even afraid of Ash. Hell, Maleficent hadn't even been afraid of the Grand Mage.

XX

"Okay…" Sora watched Leon and Riku go at it. It was obvious they were pretty good friends because their argument sounded a lot like when he and Riku would fight. It was all joke and pushing buttons for the heck of it.

"You wanna go a round after this, Ri? I'll kick your ass and send you via gift-wrap express back home." Leon laughed. Sora could tell he was joking. And since Leon couldn't beat _Sora_ in a fair fight, and Sora had trouble sparring with Riku sometimes, he doubted that Leon could beat Riku in a fair fight.

"Try me. You'll be the one crying home to Aeris." Riku shot at him, though it was obvious that he was only joking too. There was the proof that Riku had known them for a long time. Sora saw Kairi blink in surprise beside him.

"Um…are we going to talk about what's going on?"

"Yea." Leon laughed, turning his attention back to what was going on. "How much do you guys know already?"

"Just about the explosions here and on Neverland." Riku sighed, leaning back in his seat.

"Right…and that Eli's sister was sick." Sora added. Speaking of whom, she'd vanished along with Cid. Cid must have taken her to check in on her sister.

"Okay then…" Leon ran his hand through his hair. "From what Merlin's gathered, there's some kind of epidemic going around the multiverse. We don't know what it is, so we've been referring to it as the 'Heartless Virus'. Symptoms that have been seen so far are like the flu. Fever, headache, chills, back pain, loss of appetite, nausea and vomiting…the thing is that it gets _worse_ after a while. The one with the infection's skin turns yellow and their eyes go blackish red, they also start puking up blood. Not long after they hit that stage—it depends on the person as to how long it takes—they vanish completely. We're assuming that they turn into Heartless."

"That sounds like…" Riku started, his eyes wide.

"Like what?" They all asked at the same time.

"Well, I remember reading in one of my mother's old books in her study at the tower about a disease like that she saw in a different multiverse. She called it 'Yellow Fever' in her notes…and compared it to what she called the 'Dark Death'."

"So this thing has been around for a while? If your mother wrote about it…" Leon sighed. Did that mean that Riku's mom was old? He highly doubted it. But he didn't know anything about Riku's family, so he couldn't make a guess.

XX

Riku sighed as he stood on the balcony outside the room he was staying in in the old castle. There was a lot he had to mull over and figure out. He leaned on the rail, worrying about the most important thing to him at the moment. Sora obviously didn't trust him much—if at all—anymore.

_"Riku! Kairi's not with you?" Sora shouted, running across the bridge to the Paopu tree where Riku was standing, looking up at the storm above them._

_"Come with me, Sora. The darkness isn't something to be feared." He said lightly, turning to face his friend and secret love. He caught Sora's hand once he was within reach and pulled him close. "Kairi's coming too."_

_"Riku…?" Sora asked nervously as Riku opened a portal under their feet. He dipped his head to steal Sora's first kiss. Sora backed away from him when he released him. "Why…?" He sighed, sinking slowly into the portal._

_"Take this. We'll find each other soon." He tossed a keychain to Sora and smirked. "When this world disappears, tell Squall I sent you." The island disappeared as he got fully into the portal, but he could still see Sora's beautiful face in the darkness._

_"Riku…?" He saw a tear fall from Sora's eyes and it really pained him to leave like that._

"Hey daydreamer." Ash greeted, jolting Riku from the memory. He blinked at her.

"Ash! What are you doing here?" She grinned, hanging upside down in midair.

"Dropping in with my update. Peter and the boys are okay, and there were only two fairies injured in the Home Tree explosion. One was a Cleaning Talent and the other a Caterpillar Sheering Talent. Mother Dove is using her magic to repair the tree, so it'll be good as new in no time." She turned over and sat lightly on the balcony rail.

"Okay. That's good to know." She nodded a little.

"So? What did Squall have to say?" He sighed.

"Did you two fight again? Usually you'd ask him yourself." She glared at him for a minute, her eyes darkening.

"So what if we did? The idiot can't seem to decide if he likes me, Yuffie, or Aeris." She shrugged. "Dish."

"Dark Death." He said simply. His sister's angry expression turned into shock and she gasped.

"What?"

"That's what it looks like." She nodded slowly and her calculating expression made him guess she was about to change the subject.

"How are your friends holding up with the knowledge that you've been going around to other worlds?" What a subject change…out of the frying pan and into the fire.

"I'm not sure…Sora I _know_ doesn't trust me…but I think Kairi's taking it in stride…" In fact, he wasn't even concerned about how Kairi felt about it. He knew that she was pretty open to the fact that not everyone was how they first seemed.

"Well, Kairi _is_ Ansem's daughter. So naturally she has the intelligence to take things the way they should be taken."

"Right…I keep forgetting about that." She was nothing like the Grand Master, so it was really easy to forget that they were related.

"So? Which one of them are you in love with? I know just by looking at you you're in deep." He felt his face flush.

"I don't know what you're talking about." He said quickly.

"Let me guess…it's Sora? You wouldn't get so defensive over it if it was Kairi."

"A-Ash!" He shouted, glaring at her. She laughed at him.

"I'll see you around, Ri-chan. If you need any advice, you know where to find me." He sighed.

"Mom's tower?" She nodded once and leaned back on the rail, dropping off the balcony and disappearing. He sighed and leaned on the rail again, looking out over the valley. He could barely see the Rising Falls in the distance. Had it really only been a year or so since he'd first seen what Maleficent had done to this world…?

_"Well then…what have we here? A little wanderer?" Ash laughed, helping Riku stand. He looked around, not recognizing the place where he'd landed. He'd been_ trying _to get to Leon's base._

_"Where is this? I don't recognize…"_

_"Rising Falls." His sister answered before he could finish._

_"So I made it to Radiant Garden?" He frowned, Radiant Garden was_ not _where he'd wanted to go. He knew it had been consumed by the Heartless…hadn't it? Ash shook her head and led him up the trail of floating stones to the lift stop._

_"Take a good look." He gasped at the sight of Ansem's castle. Or at least, he thought it was Ansem's castle. It had the same silhouette._

_"That's…what happened here?"_

_"Maleficent rebuilt this world and gave it a new name. Hollow Bastion." He narrowed his eyes._

_"Maleficent…?" Ash nodded once._

_"What will you do? To help your friends. Kairi's a Princess of Heart." He clenched his fist and glared at the castle._

_"I'll find her and protect her."_

_"Why? Because she's a princess?"_

_"No…" He narrowed his eyes determinedly and called the lift. "Because she's precious to Sora." He got on the lift and went to the main castle, hoping that when the place had been rebuilt from the darkness the layout hadn't changed._

"Hey Riku…?" Sora's voice shocked him out of the memory. He turned to face him.

"What's up?"

"I've been wondering…why didn't you tell us before? You know, about the other worlds." Great…would it be worse if he just told him? No, he decided. He had to tell Sora. He couldn't deny him anymore.

"Because the islands are cut off from the other worlds. If I'd told you about the other worlds before Kairi came to the islands, you wouldn't have believed me. And even after she showed up…" He sighed a little. It was a rule that Sora knew about. It was the same for everyone who travelled the worlds. "There's a rule among Black Mages…when on a world that's cut off from others, you don't say that you're from off-world. I would have told you guys after we got the raft to Traverse Town. Because the only way we would have been able to leave the islands on that raft would have been if I'd opened a portal. So I wouldn't have had a choice but to let you guys know." Sora frowned.

"What about when we got back to the islands? You could have told _me_ at least…" He looked like he was about to cry and Riku's heart tightened in his chest. He frowned and approached Sora.

"Would you have believed me?"

"Probably…"

"Probably isn't good enough. I didn't want to have to tell you all that under these circumstances." Without thinking, he put a hand gently on Sora's cheek.

"R-Riku…?" A tear fell down his cheek onto Riku's hand. He brushed the tear away with his thumb, bracing himself for the heartbreak he was about to force on himself.

"Do you still trust me, Sora?" To his surprise, Sora nodded a little.

"Yea…" He smiled a little, slowly leaning close to Sora so their faces were only inches apart. He just couldn't stop himself. Even as Sora's face turned an adorable shade of red. "What are you doing…?"

He didn't answer, searching Sora's bright blue eyes for answers to questions he was afraid to ask. "Riku?" He blinked and stumbled back, covering his face.

"Sorry…"

"What's with you all of a sudden?" Sora approached him.

"I think you should leave, Sora." He turned away and almost ran to the balcony in an attempt to flee. He wouldn't be able to stop himself. He glanced back to see Sora trying to approach him again. "Leave!" He whirled around, blasting Sora out of the room with a shockwave. Once he was the only person in the room, he slammed the door shut with magic and put a barrier up.

"Riku?" Sora shouted, banging on the door. Riku leaned on the rail and dropped to his knees. He wouldn't have been able to stop himself. He'd admitted to himself that he was in love with Sora a long time ago, but he was terrified of admitting it aloud.

The reason he'd kept his powers a secret even after Sora had become the Keybearer and had brought order back to the multiverse was because he loved him. He wanted to protect his little naïve love from things he'd never be able to understand. It was the reason he'd worked so hard to protect Kairi before. Because she was Sora's most precious person and he wanted Sora to be happy, even if it was with someone else.

If Sora was happy, he was happy. He heard Sora's resigned sigh outside as he gave up and left. What was he going to do? There was no way he'd be able to prevent himself from eventually admitting his feelings to Sora if he stayed with him. But he'd promised he wouldn't separate from them this time around. Gods…he had too much to worry about.

XX

Sora sighed as he went back to his room, rubbing his lower back a little. That shockwave had been pretty strong—it had blasted him hard into the edge of a poorly placed table in the hall right outside Riku's room.

"Hey Sora." Kairi greeted him with a smile, falling into step beside him. He smiled a little at her.

"Hey Kai…" She frowned, seeing something in his expression probably.

"What's on your mind?"

"Riku…I think…I think he tried to kiss me just now…" He blushed a little.

"Oh? I was wondering when that would happen." She said lightly and it shocked him. He stared at her blankly.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Kairi giggled and he suddenly felt both out of the loop and really stupid.

"You mean you never noticed?" He frowned.

"Never noticed what?"

"How he feels about you." She said lightly.

"How…Riku feels about me…?" What did she mean by that? She only nodded in response. "You mean…"

"You really are an idiot sometimes." She sighed. "He's in love with you. Probably has been since you two were kids." That was impossible…wasn't it?

"B-But…"

"You seriously never noticed? You didn't even notice how jealous he always gets when you and I spend a lot of time together? I think he just doesn't argue it because he loves you enough to let you go." He blinked, understanding hitting him harder than a Large Body.

"That would explain a lot actually…"

"So? What are you going to do?" He looked at her.

"What do you mean?" Kairi turned and went into her room as they passed it.

"What are you going to do?" She repeated as she shut the door. He frowned and went into his room right next to hers.

"What am I going to do about what…? Maybe about Riku…?" He shook his head. "I'm not going to do anything." He decided. "If things change between me and Riku, I don't know what I'd do. And besides, what is there to do about it? The one I love is Kairi…right…?" He wasn't so sure anymore.

%%%

Okay, as a recap: Large Body is a Heartless. I don't think Sora has much experience with wrecking balls so that's the closest thing I could think of—since in the second game if you get hit by those things you go flying across the screen. Oh, and Happy Thanksgiving! Thanks to everyone who reads my stories!


	4. Summoned

**4- Summoned**

New chapter…yay! Some action here YD

%%%

Riku decided he had to get it over with and tell Sora. If it came up in the middle of something that Sora needed to concentrate on—like a fight and Ash stuck her big mouth into the mix—it wouldn't turn out well. So, he steeled himself and left his room, going to Sora's and knocking lightly.

"Come in!" Sora called in response and he entered the room quietly. He stayed close to the door as he scanned the room for Sora. He saw him by the bed, naked save his boxers, and frowned.

"What would you have done if it was Kairi?" Sora went scarlet.

"Well…I didn't think it was Kairi…" He stuttered a little. "I-I probably would h-have gotten a shirt on…"

"Sora…" He sighed, trying to keep his composure. Sora was just so damnably sexy it was hard. "I need to talk to you about something."

"What?" Riku shifted his weight a little, trying to man up and confess.

"Well…it's more of a confession…" He paused, trying to both summon his courage and figure out how to word it without scaring the crap out of Sora.

"A confession?" He heard Sora sit on the bed.

"Yea…" He took a deep breath. "I just want to get this off my chest. I understand if you don't feel the same." Even though it would break his heart to have Sora reject him.

"What do you mean?"

"I…" He closed his eyes tightly, not wanting to see the shock and disgust on Sora's face when he said it. "I love you." He blurted after a moment.

XX

Sora blinked in surprise. Not at the confession, but at how Riku was acting. Was he really that worried about how he'd react? Of course he was. Just about any guy would have a bad reaction to another guy—especially his best friend—saying that they loved them. He stood after a second. He waited until he saw Riku slowly open his eyes to watch his reaction before crossing the room.

"Why…?"

"Why what…?" Riku stepped back, his eyes flashing with some kind of suppressed emotion. Sora closed the gap and saw Riku swallow a little.

"Why are you acting like that? It's not like I'm going to beat you up over this or anything." Riku stared blankly at him.

"Really? You think I'm…?" He suddenly started laughing and was back to his normal self—almost. "You really don't get it, do you?"

"No…" He pouted. "I get it. I'm not stupid, you know. How did you think I'd react anyways?"

"I'm not sure…" Riku answered quietly and Sora could hear the relief in his voice. "But I know you love Kairi so…" It clicked. Riku was afraid that he'd be rejected.

"Well…I'm not sure about that…I got to thinking…and well…" He flushed. "H-How do you know if you're in love with someone…?" Riku didn't answer for a moment.

"Usually it's the person you think about most." He swallowed a little. He'd been thinking a lot about it since he'd gotten to his room.

"Well…I think about…_you_ more than I think about _Kairi_…" Riku stared at him with that look that made Sora feel like he was being devoured from the inside out, then he took a slow step closer to him. Sora stayed where he was, watching him carefully.

Riku got pressed against him and carefully put his hands on Sora's shoulders. They watched each other's faces as Riku slowly ran his hands down his arms. He shuddered a little, his eyes sliding closed and his lips parting a little in a small gasp. Why did such a small movement make his stomach clench and his heart race?

"Sora?" Riku pulled his hands away and Sora bit back a protesting whine at the loss of his touch.

"That…felt good…don't stop…" He whispered instead. He cracked his eyes open to see Riku lick his lips a little. Almost immediately, Sora's smaller frame was enveloped in Riku's strong arms and his bare back was being kneaded carefully by calloused fingers. He arched into the touch, a small moan escaping his throat against his will.

"Look at me." He whispered, his breath hot against Sora's ear. He complied.

"Riku I…" Riku shook his head a little and kissed him lightly. He nearly melted the moment their lips touched.

"How does this make you feel…?" He whispered into the kiss.

"Really good…" Sora murmured in response, wrapping his arms around Riku's broad shoulders and returning the kiss. Riku shuddered, pushing his tongue into Sora's open mouth and tugging down on his boxers. He gasped, breaking the kiss. "R-Riku…what are you doing…?" Riku yanked his hands back and backed up.

"Sorry…" Sora blinked, processing what just happened. Did Riku want…to have sex with him?

"You were…" He thought of something and pouted, pushing Riku's vest down his arms.

"Sora…?"

"It's not fair for you to see me naked before I see you."

"I guess you're right." He smirked and tossed the vest into the corner. Sora laughed a little and yanked up at the hem of Riku's shirt. "Honestly, you're pathetic sometimes…" He joked, pulling the shirt off and tossing it with his vest. "Think you can handle my pants, or do I need to get that too?" Pouting, Sora pinched Riku's nipple tightly. "Ah—!" His head tipped back.

"…You okay?"

"Yea…" He gasped. An idea formed in his head and Sora grinned. He went for both nipples. "Sora…!" Riku gasped, stumbling back in surprise.

"What?" He asked innocently, batting his eyes for effect.

"You're an evil little twit, you know that?" Riku pounced on him, pinning him to the bed. Sora blinked. They were by the door, how did he do that?

"How'd you get us across the room like that…?"

"I'm a Black Mage, I can do anything." He said darkly, dipping his head to hover over Sora's face. "Now shut up and let me show you how I feel about you." He nodded dumbly. "Stay there." Riku got off of him and stripped his pants off. Now that he was naked save his boxers, Riku got back on top of Sora and kissed him deeply, running his tongue along his lower lip in a request for entrance. Sora opened his mouth a little, panting.

"Riku…" He moaned and Riku pushed his tongue into his mouth, exploring. His hand trailed down Sora's chest and he shuddered when Riku's fingers found the scar over his heart. "W-What's wrong…?" He asked when Riku broke the kiss and frowned.

"This scar…" He lifted himself up a little and looked at it.

"That's from when…" Sora paused, sitting up a little. "Do you…remember what happened while Zehanort's Heartless was controlling you?" To his relief, Riku shook his head.

"No…" He paused. "Did I do this to you…?"

"No…I did it to myself…to give Kairi her heart back…"

"Oh…" He rested his hand on the scar. Sora smiled a little.

"So…where were we?"

"Right." Riku smirked. "No more distractions." He said lightly, pushing Sora back onto his back and continuing his exploration of his chest. He shuddered, arching into his touch.

"RI!" Yuffie shouted outside the room.

"Fuck." Sora frowned.

"Maybe it's something important…?"

XX

Riku nodded and got off the bed, grumbling. Stupid idiot Yuffie…what the hell could be so important that she had to go running around the place shouting at the top of her lungs and risking waking people up or interrupting important conversations? He grabbed his pants from the floor and pulled them on. He went to the door and waited for Sora to get some pants on to hide his arousal. As it was, Riku was having a very hard time not glancing down at himself to see if it was too extremely obvious that he was rock hard.

"What the hell's your problem, Yuf? We're kinda in the middle of something…" He groaned as he stepped into the hall.

"Oh…?" Yuffie paused and made quite the show of looking them over, her eyes resting on both of their crotches. Riku was honestly surprised that Sora didn't go scarlet and cover his erection with his hands, stuttering. It took a lot of his self-control not to do that himself. "I see. Sorry, but it's important." She handed him a piece of paper and he frowned, spotting the familiar seal at the bottom of the page.

"What is it?" Sora asked, looking around his arm to see.

"This is…" Riku read the words on the page several times before taking a deep breath. It was his mother's handwriting, and it had her seal on it. It was a summons, even though as far as he knew, his mother had died when he was a baby. Whoever had sent this wanted him at his mother's tower immediately and alone.

"What?" Sora tried to make sense of what little he could see of the note.

"It's her handwriting, right?"

"Yea…it is." He crumpled the page, frowning. "Sora, sorry, but we'll have to finish up later." He turned and went back into the room to get his shirt and vest.

"Riku? What's going on? What was with that…?" Sora followed him into the room and shut Yuffie out in the hall.

"I'm going to the Tower. Alone."

"You promised you wouldn't separate from us!" His heart wrenched painfully at the reminder.

"I know! But I really don't have a choice." He tossed the crumpled page to Sora. He knew that Sora wouldn't understand. He turned to watch him as he read it.

"Riku…you can't listen to this…!"

"Look at that seal on the bottom there, Sora. I don't have a _choice_."

"What does it mean?" Of course he wouldn't know what the seal meant. It was a variation of his family's seal unique to his mother. And since Sora didn't know his family name, he wouldn't have a clue about the seal.

"The handwriting is my mother's. And so is the seal. You're not a Black Mage, so you don't get it." He was wasting time. The magic attached to that summons was starting to put him in severe pain. If he didn't leave right then, he'd collapse and go into a coma.

"Don't leave me out of this, Riku!" Sora ran to him as he turned and started to open a portal. He caught his raised hand. "You did that last time…" He sighed and hugged him tightly.

"I'll be back before you know it."

"You're lying to make me feel better…" He shook his head a little.

"I'm not lying. I _will_ be back. And I wish I could take you with me."

"That note said to go alone…but why do you have to do what it says? It's just a piece of paper!"

"Sora…" He sighed again. The pain was getting unbearable. He had to leave _right now_. "I'd explain it to you, but I don't have time." He started to pull away.

"Don't go!" Sora clung to him and his heart breaking at having to hurt Sora like this added to the pain from delaying. "Please…!"

"I have to, Sora. Get Squall or Merlin to explain it to you." He pushed Sora back and kissed his forehead lightly. "I'm sorry." He stepped back, reaching into the opening portal behind him.

"Wait!" Sora reached for him, but Riku was already inside the portal.

"I love you." He whispered as he stepped further into the portal, his vest and shirt over his shoulder.

"I love you too…" He saw Sora drop onto the bed, crying. He turned and walked through the darkness, grumbling. Of all the things to have to happen…he had to choose his stupid 'job' over being with Sora. But it was break his heart and make it back to Sora in one piece to make things right or stay with Sora and go into a pain induced coma. He got to the tower and saw someone he'd only ever seen in paintings. He blinked in surprise at the sight of her.

"Hello, Son." The look on her face told him that this woman was far from happy to see him.

XX

"What the hell does this note mean?" Sora demanded at breakfast the next morning, slamming the crumpled note on the table in front of Leon. Cloud choked on the bite of egg in his mouth in surprise, as he was sitting right beside Leon.

"Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed…"

"Seriously…" Leon agreed, looking over the note. "So he left, huh?"

"Yea! And I want to know why the hell he had to!" He'd looked like he was in pain…and Sora didn't think it was entirely because he was upset about leaving.

"It's kind of obvious…" Cloud sighed, taking another bite of food.

"To _us_ maybe, but Sora hasn't even _met_ Master Kai, much less learned about her little summonings." What the heck was Leon talking about? He'd never even _heard_ that name.

"What the hell is that…?"

"You tell him." Cloud stood. "I'm going to find Tifa and see about going around to investigate that epidemic." He left the room quickly. Sora got the feeling that everyone was about to abandon Leon for some reason. Was talking about this Kai person so bad?

"Yea…I'm going to go check in on Eli and Keri." Yuffie slipped out.

"She's going to need some help." Aeris said lightly, following.

"I've got Ri's ship to work on." Cid left as well. Yep, everyone but Merlin had left the room. And Kairi obviously wasn't in the know as she was just sitting there listening for the explanation as well.

"So much for friendship…" Leon groaned. Merlin laughed a little.

"I will explain things to Sora; you have other things to do, Leon."

"Okay." He bolted. What was so bad about explaining about some woman?

"I'm waiting here…!"

"Yes, well. Riku's mother, Master Kai, was the most powerful of Black Mages. And her children, naturally are no exception to her lineage of mages. She was what was referred to as the 'Grand Mage'. And therefore able to force her written command to be followed by other Black Mages by simply placing her seal on the page. What doesn't make sense is simply that she's been supposedly dead for nearly sixteen years…" And Riku was almost seventeen.

"So…how can Riku's _dead_ mom use this little note to get him to break a promise and go to some tower?"

"I said 'supposedly'…she may very well have faked her death in order to avoid her powers being used for evil. Black Mages have always been known for being very susceptible to the darkness, simply because of how strongly they deal with the powers of that side of the spectrum." That didn't make much sense.

"Okay…so…huh?" Kairi sighed tiredly.

"Basically, Sora…Riku's mother isn't dead like everyone thought."

"Okay…so why would she fake her death?" He didn't get it.

"I just…" Merlin started.

"You have to use one syllable words with Sora sometimes." She sighed again. That was really harsh. "You remember what happened with Riku?" He nodded.

"Of course…" It was impossible for him to forget it.

"She didn't want that kind of thing to happen to herself, so she faked her death." That made sense.

"Oh. Okay then. What about Ash then?"

"She's mostly been summoned by Master Kai as well." Merlin answered lightly. The question was…why did they get dragged off like that?

%%%

Darn interruptions…and the drama only gets worse after this…look forward to it!


	5. The Grand Mage

**5- The Grand Mage**

Okay, warning right now. Riku's mom is a sadistic bitch. And this chapter has _heavy_ sexual content—as in my usual stuff YD.

%%%

"Huh…and we're just gonna sit here and do nothing?" Sora shouted. He had a bad feeling about the situation.

"You won't need to do that any longer." A firm female voice said behind them. Sora frowned. He hadn't heard the door open or someone walk in. Heck, he was _looking_ at the door right behind Merlin and he would have seen someone come in! "You must be Sora." He whirled around to look at the woman.

"Uh…yea…?"

"Hello there, Master Kai. You're looking lovely as always." Merlin laughed. The look of pure disdain in her dragon green eyes was tangible.

"Please don't attempt flirting with me, Merlin. It doesn't become you." She sighed, running a hand through shoulder length silver hair. Sora blinked, examining her closer. She looked just like Riku, tall and strongly built, with the same grass green eyes and shaggy silver hair. "Sorry about the abruptness of my return. I was in a different 'Verse doing research."

"Uh…who are you again?" He was pretty sure that this was that Kai woman Merlin was talking about…Riku's mom. She laughed and it chilled his bones. If this was really Riku's mom, he hoped his father was a lot more pleasant. This woman purely freaked him out.

"My name is Kai." She leaned over to examine his face and he took and involuntary step back, startled by the sudden move. "No need to be afraid. Hm…so you're the boy my son was speaking of." He frowned. Her tone made him suspect she'd done something to him.

"You mean Riku? Where is he?"

"Busy at the moment." She said dismissively. That pissed him off. To the point he had to struggle very hard not to pull out his Keyblade and demand answers.

"What do you mean by that? Where is he?"

"Someone's demanding. If you _must_ know, he's safely out of harm's way." She said, straightening up. The door slammed open and Sora looked back to see Leon burst in.

"I just heard from Ash, Ri's been—!" He cut himself off when he saw Kai standing there. "What are _you_ doing here?"

"Why, making myself acquainted with the ones that the other Grand Mages seem to have placed their highest trusts in…though they don't seem like much."

"Leave." He growled.

"You have no power over me, Boy." She said dangerously, straightening to her full height. Sora got the feeling she was taller than Yen Sid. Leon pulled out his Gunblade and pointed it at her.

"Leave. Now. You're not welcome here." He growled.

"Well then…what a welcome." She laughed. "If you've spoken with my silly daughter, then I'm sure she told you of her _idiot_ kid brother's situation?" The disdain in her voice pissed Sora off. She'd pretended to be dead his whole life and suddenly acted like she knew him well enough to say he was an _idiot_?

"Yea. She told me. And that's why I'm tellin' you to leave." Sora blinked.

"What…? Leon, what's going on?"

"She beat her own _son_ to a pulp and locked him up in the deepest dungeon of her tower." That was too much.

"Now that's a bit of an exaggeration, I have deeper dungeons than the one Riku is currently occupying." Her dismissive tone made Sora snap. He pulled out his Keyblade. Surprisingly, Kai hissed at the sight of the weapon and disappeared in a spark of black light.

"Okay…" Leon sighed, putting his weapon away.

"How do we get to that place?" Sora asked, putting his weapon away as well and turning to Merlin and Leon.

"Forget it, you can't get there." Merlin sighed.

"Yes he can." Ash's voice said tiredly from behind Leon. Kairi turned in her seat and gasped.

"What happened to you?" She ran to help Ash to a chair and Sora saw that she was pretty beat up.

"Thanks…last night…Ri-chan and I were summoned to the Tower…I didn't think much about it, since I'd known that Mother was still alive and in another dimension while avoiding getting trapped by any dark traps…" She paused for breath, wincing as though her ribs were broken.

"You're injured…" Kairi started, her eyes wide.

"This is nothing…" She gasped.

"What do you mean…dark traps…?" Sora asked slowly, having a feeling it had a lot to do with what happened to Riku before.

"We Black Mages are…rather emotional. But…the angrier we get, the easier it is for evil to use us and our powers…" She paused. "I'm sure you remember what my brother recently went through because of his anger."

"But…what was he so angry about…?" Kairi voiced the question before Sora could and his stomach dropped.

"The fact that Maleficent—a lower ranking High Mage—was trying to use him. And that he'd failed in preventing the Heartless from discovering the world you all were living on." Sora swallowed a little. He didn't get the rank thing, but he understood the rest.

"So…what happened to you and Riku?" He asked slowly. Ash sighed, wincing a little.

"Mother knew what had happened with Zehanort's Heartless. The moment Ri-chan got over the shock of seeing Mother alive…she…" She shuddered and her face contorted with pain. If she was in that much pain and their mother had released her…how bad had she hurt Riku? "I'd rather not repeat what he went through."

"And…what about you?" Kairi whispered. The worry on her face was probably as obvious as Sora's rage.

"I myself had my own little fall into evil…though it wasn't as bad as Ri-chan's…the simple fact that it wasn't as bad a case was what saved me from being trapped in one of those dungeons…" She trembled a little. "I can't imagine what sort of pain Ri-chan's going through right now…" Sora clenched his fists.

"How do we get him out of there?" She shook her head minutely, holding her ribs now.

"It will be difficult. The moment you go into the lower levels of the Tower…it's worse than entering the Underworld of Olympus Coliseum unprepared…even the strongest human with no magical powers whatsoever would be rendered unable to move. How would you be able to survive it with _all_ your gifts stripped from you and your body feeling as though it was weighed down by leaden _tons_?" He swallowed but tightened his fists to the point he could feel his nails almost breaking the skin.

"I don't care if I had to walk through a _blazing sun_ to do it. I _will_ save him."

"Sora…?" Kairi blinked at him. He figured his expression was pretty…not normal for him.

"That's just the thing you needed to say. And from what I've seen, you're sincere." Ash stood shakily and he almost regretted asking her to take him to save Riku. "I'll take you to the Tower, but I won't be able to go further than the entrance to the basements…" He nodded once.

"I can make it from there. Just point me in the right direction."

"You won't be able to use your Keyblade." Ash pointed out.

"Sora! Think about this for a second…!" Kairi cried.

"No matter what it takes, I'll save him." He said, shaking his head at her and going around the table to Ash. Ash smiled a little.

"Okay then." She extended her un-bloodied and barely injured hand to him. "Follow me then." He nodded and carefully took her hand.

"You can't seriously be doing this?" Kairi shouted, grabbing Sora's shoulder.

"If I don't save him…who will?" He sighed. "Besides…I realized something, Kairi…"

"You love him, don't you?" He nodded once.

"I have to get him back." She nodded, relenting.

"Okay. Be careful." She handed him her lucky charm. "It probably won't do much good, but just hold on to it." He nodded again and put it in his pocket.

"You help Leon and the others out as much as you can, okay?" She was a Princess of Heart, she could do so much to help them, he knew it. She nodded again.

"Right." Ash smirked a little and opened a portal, pulling Sora into the darkness.

XX

Riku, meanwhile, was curled up in a pained ball in the corner of the first level of the dungeon. It was pitch black and he couldn't move for searing pain from the injuries his mother had inflicted on him and the weakness of not being able to even sense his magic.

"Poor kid…maybe we should take pity on him and leave him alone?" A voice said in the darkness. He blinked, trying to see the source of the unfamiliar voice in the dark.

"W-Who's there?" He whispered into the pitch black. He couldn't even see the end of his nose in the darkness, and that didn't help his nerves in the least. Neither did the fact that he'd just been beaten helplessly by his own _mother_ and tossed in that pitch black space like trash. It hurt to breathe and it was all he could do just to lift his head.

"Nah…orders are orders. And besides, how often is it that normal _humans_ like us can take advantage of an all-powerful Black Mage?" Another, female voice sighed. His stomach clenched painfully and he got a very bad feeling.

_'Shit.'_ He thought. He'd heard of how his mother had, in the past, tortured her enemies and eventually caused them to destroy themselves. She would catch them off guard, put them in a situation where they couldn't fight, lock them in her dungeons that sapped power from anyone stronger than a normal human, and have her human servants torture them in ways that Riku didn't want to think about until they were either begging for death or destroyed themselves. Two sets of footsteps approached him and after they got to him, two sets of hands pulled his injured body from the floor as though he were feather light. He groaned in pain, unable to move to fight them.

"Well this is a problem…" The first voice sighed. His eyes went wide and he grimaced at what felt like a cut burning with the movement of his face.

"True…his clothes are in the way." Said the woman.

_'His…clothes…? What the hell are these bastards planning to do to me?'_ He thought frantically. The only clothes he could feel on his body were his pants and boxers. He was pretty sure that at some point his shirt and vest had been destroyed. Along with his wrist brace.

"Well, the Master _did_ say we could have our way with him."

"Then the clothes have to go." The woman said and he felt her hands quickly strip off his pants and boxers. He tried to struggle.

_'This isn't right…! I have to get out of this somehow…Sora's the only one I'm going to allow to touch me sexually…!'_

"Aw, he's trying to fight us. Too bad even the great High Mage Riku Itazura is simply no stronger than a mouse down here." The first voice laughed harshly, dropping him to the ground.

"N-No…" He whispered, weakly trying to back away and feel his way to an escape route. He knew that the moment he managed to get out of the dungeons, his injuries would heal on their own enough because of his magic and he'd be able to open a portal and get to either Spira or to Radiant Garden to have either Yuna or Aeris heal him. He really needed a White Mage.

"Oh stop your struggling." The woman sighed, and he felt her fingers trail along his exposed cock. He sucked in a sharp breath.

"No…S-Sora's the—" He was cut off by something long and hard shoving into his mouth, cutting off his air.

_'Is this a…penis…?'_ He thought, trying desperately to get a breath. Something warm and wet closed around his cock and he felt teeth grate along the shaft. The woman was _sucking_ it. He was being raped and there was nothing he could do about it. The other person pulled his cock out of Riku's mouth for a second and he gasped for air, coughing painfully.

The cock was slammed back into his mouth and hard hands grabbed him by the hair, forcing his head to mimic the woman's sucking motions. _'This can't be happening. Why would Mom do this to me…?'_ He attempted to struggle again, but quickly stopped when moving on his own simply became harder and pain hit him from all over his body.

It wasn't long before the man stopped forcing Riku to suck his cock and held him so he couldn't breathe as he released down his throat.

"He's not getting off on it…" The woman complained, sticking something thin and cold to his asshole. He gagged on the semen pouring down his throat and swallowed reflexively in an attempt to breathe. He was also trying to brace himself for whatever the woman was about to do to him. It felt like a syringe of some sort pressed in his ass. Cold fluid pushed into his intestines as the man pulled out of his mouth. He coughed and gasped.

"W-What…?" More fluid was pushed into his body until his stomach felt like it would burst. "S-Stop…!" He shouted.

"Shall we see how long you can last with this inside you?" Something big and thick and obviously plastic was shoved into his ass. He _screamed_. The thing started pumping in his ass, hitting something deep in him with every pass. He heard the whirring of a small machine and figured it was from his mother's travels to other dimensions.

"No…stop this…please…" He begged between gasps. He felt himself slowly harden every time that thing thrust into him—he figured it was his prostate being hit. It made him want to puke.

"Finally…!" The woman cried, rubbing his cock into full hardness. He writhed a little, trying to get away, but only succeeding in getting the machine to rape him deeper. The woman giggled sadistically and something hot and wet surrounded his cock. He could tell it wasn't her mouth.

_'Gods…what the hell did I do to deserve this…?'_ His mouth opened in another scream, but a gag was tied around his head, gurgling his scream. _'Fuck. I have to get out of this somehow…!'_ The woman gasped lewdly as she met the thrusts the machine was forcing him to make. It wasn't long before he felt his cock would burst from the forced pleasure from the machine and the woman. Her pace became erratic and he figured she was about to climax. With a gurgled scream of pain, he ejaculated.

"You came too soon…"

"Well, he's obviously a virgin." The man laughed.

"Not anymore." The woman said darkly. Riku collapsed onto the floor, gasping for air around the gag as he stared into the darkness, pain making it impossible to move at all for the moment. And every time that damned machine thrust into him, pain shot through him as obviously broken bones were shifted.

_'I can't take much more of this…!'_ He thought.

"It's a shame she cursed him with blindness…" The woman sighed. Blindness…? "I'd love to see the look on his face when he actually _saw_ what we have planned."

_'Cursed with blindness…? Is that why I can't see…?'_ A tongue ran along the shell of his ear.

"Well…be glad you can't see what we have in store for you." The woman laughed in his ear.

"Let's leave him alone for a little while to prepare." The man laughed, and Riku heard his footsteps hit the stairs as he left.

%%%

See, I told you she was a sadistic bitch…she's not a nice character…which honestly isn't surprising since _I'm_ the one that came up with her character…we all know how sadistic and psycho my original characters can get…fufufu


	6. NOTICE

Moving to DeviantArt~! Preexisting posts here will remain, but anything new will be found at .com

Stories with mature content (Pretty much all of them) will require a DeviantArt account to view so I can keep maturity filters correct. Go watch me there and keep an eye out~!

I'm doing this to satisfy my own beliefs as there is no mature content filter on . My preexisting stories will also be available in edited versions on DeviantArt, so feel free to read those and tell me what you think.


End file.
